Women's Issues, Peace, Creativity & Spirituality

Monthly Archives: February 2013

I am thinking today about the women who have been my friends and support in life. I am grateful for all that they have added to my life. As I think back it was they that helped me accomplish all that I have done. There is an connection between women forged by survived violence against women, injustice, oppression and we are an important part of American Life. We have stood up to discrimination and put-downs and we have gotten back up each time we were knocked down. In truth, we started a revolution that affects men and women everywhere.

I loved this video because as we move around the world living our lives, we meet so many men and women from other cultures and relighons. We all live here on this one planet. We don’t look alike, we don’t all think alike or love alike, but we are all children of the Universe. Love for the One and each other is what binds us together. Caring about all the women and men in the world who are suffering under oppression, who have not medicine for something as simple as TB or Malaria, who have to watch their children starve to death.

The language of the people of this planet is love, music, dance and creativity. This language is what gives us the courage to fight for the best in ourselves and each other.

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This is the year to get the Equal Rights Amendment passed. Congress needs to do much more to stop the War on Women. This is a very important issue.

The Amendment is divided into three sections and I will lay them out. Everyone needs to understand this Ammendment and to push Congress to quit playing games and roll up their sleeves and go to work for the American Woman.

Many are questioning the importance of the ERA, but here are some reasons for women and men to support the passage of the Amendment in 2013. I hope this might clear up questions people might have and make it possible to see why this Amendment is important actually vital in our country.

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropiate legislation, the provisions of this article.
This Amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
Women are not a proteted class.I am going to discuss some ways this Amendment will benefit women.

Say yes to the ERA

First of all, the Amendment will protect women in the workplace. If a woman finds that her male coworker is earning more money and the woman sues the company, the Amendment will be cited and the company will be forced to give a reason why the woman is earning less. If there is no reason besides gender, the Constitution will protect her.

Another area where this Amendment will defend women is the charge of rape. If there is a rape and the woman presses charges and it goes to court the Constitution can prevent the woman from being victimized again. Rape is not a sexual act. It is all about power and control. Eighty year old women have been raped. Men use rape to control the woman.

So In court, if the defense attorney brings up that she has had alcohol or was wearing a short skirt or went out on a date with a man, the Constitution will protect the woman from gender discrimination. Men are not blamed when they are victimized if they have had a drink or if they look sexy.

Insurance companies discriminate on gender to determine how much a person’s premium will be. The Amendment will protect women from having to pay higher premium rates. A Constitutional Amendment will ensure equal treatment and it is necessary to protect women’s rights for all time.

Women are now able to serve in the military if they wish. Unfortunately, many have been raped (power and control). The officers have been turning their heads and allowing men to get away with this horrible act. This is gender bias.
Women can now be drafted into the military and they must be treated the same as their male counterparts.

The organization UniteWoman.org is leading the effort to get this Amendment passed by Congress. A White House petition has recently received the number of signatures to be addressed by President Obama. Another organization working towards the huge job of getting this Amendment passed is NOW. NOW stands for the National Organization of Women. It has been working for decades to promote equality for women. I have been a member for many years. Most cities have a branch of NOW and like Unite Women, they always need volunteers. Whatever you feel comfortable doing would be deeply appreciated.

With the GOP working so hard to stop legal equality for women, we all need to pull together and make sure yhat not only we are protected but also the younger women coming up behind us .Our daughters and granddaughters will benefit as well as all of us. Feminist men are also needed in the effort to stop gender discrimination.

The has been a lot of conversation and debate lately about our founding fathers. The heroic revolutionaries who deciced that these colonies must break away from England and become a Republic and there had to be freedom here. These men were very different from those who are in government today. They were actually willing, may I go so far as to say, they looked forward to fighting and gaining our independence. They were a brave and very diverse group of men.

America was imagined and created by men who were liberals and revolutionaries.

The original words of our founding fathers found in the Constitution, Bill of Rights show us a picture of men who were radicals for their day. The entire idea of what they wanted to create here was liberal and so very radical. The founders were a kind of motley crew. I say this with no disrespect meant. They were a group of rather unlikely idealists. They also were imperfect. Some were slave holders, Paine wrote anti-slavery pamphlets and Benjamin Franklin organized the first anti-slavery societies.

Women were never on their radar, even after the famous letter Abigail Adam’s wrote to her husband John Adams. “If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” Despite Abiagail Adam’s efforts, our rights weren’t up for discussion.

The Founding Fathers were not uniformly Christian, they were freethinkers, agnostics, atheists, Christians, Freemasons, and Deists. A Deist professes belief in as-yet-unknown powers evinced in the natural, scientifically observed universe. But whether they were religious or not, they fought for a secular state and for freedom of belief.

The question of slavery was the only big issue they were unable to find a solution for. However, it ended up being left out of the Constitution and they agreed to leave it to later generations to solve this divisive problem. So, as you know, Lincoln was the man who picked up the gauntlet and freed the slaves and held this union together.

These Founding men were radical and liberal.

It is time to reclaim our nation and return it to its original “patriotic” values. These constitute our rightful inheritance and inspiration. The United States of America was the dream of these great men we revere so much. They considered it the great experiement. To this day, the reason the world wants to come here is not really for the big TV’s, fast foods, etc. The real reason the world wants to come here is still to be part of the remarkable experiment.

After the first Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what type of government the Founders had chosen. Franklin replied, “We have given you a republic—if you can keep it. I believe we must never give up.

Original sketch of the drawing up of our Constitution

Part of this blog has been excerpted from Fighting Words, by Robin Morgan.

Help Save a Child

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HANDS UP 4 JUSTICE APP

The Hands Up 4 Justice audio and video APP records encounters with law enforcement. This APP was created to video and audio record encounters with law enforcement for your safety. The best use of the APP once pulled over by the police, turn on the front facing camera and start recording..

Protests – Black Lives Matter

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KEEP EYES ON THE POLICE. NATIONAL POLICE VIOLENCE MAPPING TOOL.

Tool designed to help you hold Elected Officials accountable for police violence.

Hank Johnson Justice Fund

NO JUSTICE, NO MONEY
In the wake of the killings of unarmed black men and boys and the outrageous failure to prosecute their killers, Hank Johnson is introducing the Grand Jury Reform Act. This bill will prohibit the use of a grand jury when determining whether to prosecute a police officer in the event of a death. The status quo isn’t working. The evidence is clear. The people are demanding a real response from their elected leaders.

I am a retired widow with 4 kids and 9 grands. I worked as a nurse, and in Domestic Violence, and many non-profits, I was a donor health counselor for the American Red Cross and am a certified HIV counselor. I worked as a counselor and I have been a make-up artist and selling specialists for several American designers. I love life. I am very spiritual. I grew up in 50's and 60's and truly am the idealistic rebel which is the name of my blog. I love music, books, reading, Kindle, beauty. I am a photographer and an artist. I believe in making the world better one day at a time. I am now living in Asheville, NC.